Ira and Louis discuss Snapple bottles, Pine Sol smells, and Pink concerts. Plus, they’re joined by actor and comedian Bob Odenkirk and his daughter, Erin Odenkirk, to discuss their poetry collection, Zilot & Other Important Rhymes, how they developed a creative relationship, and more.

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TRANSCRIPT

Ira Madison III And we are back with an all new episode of Keep It. I’m Ira Madison, the third.

Louis Virtel I’m Louis Virtel. I’m back at home. It’s giving pandemic vibes. I hate even saying the word pandemic. Like when people are like, Here I am to bring up the pandemic. It’s something that happened during and I’m like, What if you didn’t? We already we already did that. Stop it. Don’t do it.

Ira Madison III I actually am always trying to figure out when I’m writing something like what to describe. I’m always like, Oh, during the pandemic. But I mean, then there’s the pandemic still going on. But then there’s also, do you say lockdown or do you say quarantine? Because I knew when I bringing up quarantine in that era, we’re usually always specifically talking about 20, 20 to 2021.

Louis Virtel Yes. Right. When you were inside, for sure. Not seeing anybody, right? Yeah. Yes.

Ira Madison III I do that during the week. Now, though, just because I don’t want to see people right now.

Louis Virtel I have this thing called TCM. I mean, like that will keep me company. That’s my you know, that’s my vaccine. Okay. What if I just became an anti-vaxxer right on the show? Just threw it all away.

Ira Madison III The actual sort of beauty about moving back to New York and being, like, in an apartment where I can see people outside all the time and then, like, I’m working from home writing as now I sort of get to feel like the woman in the window because I see people all I literally see people right now as I’m talking to you. And so it doesn’t have that isolating feel of L.A. where you’re like, Is anyone around? It’s so quiet, but then you can just sort of sit here and Do I really need to leave because you’re looking out the window. It feels like I’ve done something.

Louis Virtel Right, right, right. Well, actually, do you know what that reminds me? My life is a little bit the girl on the train because I out my window.

Ira Madison III You’re drunkenly dancing on platforms.

Louis Virtel That’s what I mean. I just look and slurping. Yes, I know. There’s a liquor store near me and I get to see people walk into it all day. And I really thought I would out like, you know, the down low alcoholics in my life and there’s been no goss to share. I have to tell you, it’s really not panned out for me.

Ira Madison III I just love looking out and seeing. Oh. Actually, I think I just saw John Cameron Mitchell walk by. So there’s.

Louis Virtel No. You didn’t.

Ira Madison III Really? Yeah. I’m in the West Village. Yeah. I see. I truly see Sarah Jessica Parker walking by a lot. And Matthew Broderick.

Louis Virtel Oh, my God. And then you just yell like they just do Plaza Suite for you sometimes, or whatever.

Ira Madison III Well, I don’t want to see that again.

Louis Virtel Oh, you saw that.

Ira Madison III Right, right, right. I did see that. I did see that. That was a journey. No, just should just yell lines out to them.

Louis Virtel But yeah, I’m sure they’d be very receptive to that.

Ira Madison III Yes. And just like that.

Louis Virtel She thinks that assassins after her. Yeah.

Ira Madison III Well, so this was supposed to be our dark week. And it technically is because we’re not recording a damn thing this week.

Louis Virtel Luxury.

Ira Madison III But we do have an interview this week with the delightful Bob Odenkirk and his daughter, Erin Odenkirk, who have created a poetry book together.

Louis Virtel Yes, they are. And she is an illustrator. She does a little illustrations. Florida has a Shel Silverstein vibe, and it stems, as they’ll tell you from poems they wrote together when he was reading to her when she was a kid. And now they’ve collected those poems, added to those poems, illustrated them. And it’s it’s a rad little book. And also, I’ve just always wanted to talk to Bob Odenkirk, who has been whatever your version of like Superior Entertainment is on television, he has been a part of it, you know, whether it’s like goofy comedy or prestige dramas, he’s, you know, done it all and also seems incredibly down to earth. So we confirmed that in the interview. He is exactly that.

Ira Madison III Yes. Although I will say I love their dynamic, too, as I mean, I didn’t obviously have a father in general, but to have a parent who sort of could also critique your work and guide you on, you know, a path as an artist like that, a little bit like having your professor living at home with you all the time.

Louis Virtel I fucking bet. Yeah, no kidding. I will never get over one time I was at a the TCAS, which is where they have like the cast for the new TV shows. Come and do interviews for the press or whatever. And Mamie Gummer was in that show at the time off the map, I believe, with that Shonda Rhimes. Shonda said yes, right? So the first one that comes to mind when you think of Shonda Rhimes. Yes. And somebody, of course, in the audience asked her, you know, your mom is Meryl Streep, but just imagine saying that to her. And then and then the question was, does she have any advice for you? And she literally goes, No, not really. And it’s just like, wow, you live with Meryl Streep and she has no acting advice for you. Interesting. I always think about that. What’s going on? You’re an actor, too. Yeah.

Ira Madison III I’ll just I’ll just sort of barrel now one of her best comedy roles, like Walking Past the Bedroom, seeing Mamie rehearsing for some sides. She has an audition the next day. Meryl’s like, Huh? Oh, no. She’s walking.

Louis Virtel I’ve got nothing. Yeah, Yeah, right.

Ira Madison III She’s like, I’ll let her. I’ll let her do that by herself. I have nothing to say.

Louis Virtel Wow. Don Gamer’s Like running the sides for some reason. I get. Yeah, whatever.

Ira Madison III That’s also just like if you’re Mamie Gummer, too, you have to just sort of wonder when you watch your mom’s movies, if you watch your mom’s work, I’m sure she’s seen many of them. Obviously you have to have your favorites. And then do you have the movies where you’re like, Well, my mom sucked in that one.

Louis Virtel I would love to know that where she’s like, Oh, my mom is a phony bastard in that movie. She’s like dumping on postcards from the edge in front of me. I can’t even see that.

Ira Madison III This is like a cry in the dark. I heard that fucking accent every day. Yeah.

Louis Virtel Oh, my God. Someone should write a book just about seeing Meryl behind the scenes. Preparing. Because that’s the thing. You still don’t really know about her. Like, what is she physically doing to prepare for each of these things? Not that the book Her Again by Michael Shannon, friend of our podcast isn’t wonderful.

Ira Madison III All right. We will be right back with Bob and Erin Odenkirk. And of course, this is a real episode, so we do have a Keep It segment after the interview. Remember the time we didn’t do one of those?

Louis Virtel No, people rioted. It was like Haymarket in Chicago. Just everything was awry.

Ira Madison III Imagine writing for this free show we give you every week. I’m in whips and chains. Okay. I’m Mary. Mary. The shackles are on my feet, and I just want to dance. Today on Keep It, we are joined by two incredibly delightful artists. They are father and daughter, one of whom you know, from incredible shows like Mr. Show, Breaking Bad, of course, Better Call Saul, and most recently, Lucky Hank. Here he is today talking about his newest book, Zealot and Other Important Rhymes, which was illustrated by his equally talented daughter. We have them both here today with us. Please welcome to Keep it, Bob and Erin Odenkirk. I just sort of have to ask, you know, starting out with this book, you know, what is it like to decide to embark on a creative project with your father?

Erin Odenkirk I thought you were going to ask with your daughter, and it wasn’t much of a decision for me because he kind of said I had to do it. He makes it easy. Now, he said I had to do it if I wanted. And. It was great. You know, I love my dad. I think he’s funny. I think he’s relatively easy to work with and I think he respects me, which is a big part of why this worked. And I definitely respect him and his ideas and it had, this book, Zilot,  had originated from a bedtime tradition we had where Bob would read books to us as little kids before bed, and then we’d sit down and write a poem, sort of maybe in the style of that book, or based on something that happened to us in that day. And so I couldn’t have done this project without him. Because he was really the impetus behind both generations of it.

Bob Odenkirk It was a joy to make a book with my daughter. In case you were going to ask me. But also, the truth is, I did kind of have to push her a little. I mean, she’s been doing art her whole life, and she went to college at Pratt Institute to study art and thinking about art and doing art. And so I knew she was good and had developed her skills. I think I underestimated how good she is. But it was the early days of the pandemic, which was so scary and so quiet and so empty. And the kids, Erin and Nate, her older brother, were both doing their college classes on Zoom. So they were in their bedrooms at home. And then they had no social life at night. They weren’t going to clubs. When I was 19, I was at a club every night and I just thought, we just should just get a project going of some kind make make something out of this time. And I had this book sitting on the shelf since they were little, since they wrote all these little poems with me. There are so many in here and a lot we didn’t use, but that’s because they’re not very good, most of them. But some of them were good. I knew some of them were good. I mean, and so we just, you know, it was just like it was a little bit of a it wasn’t really optional, but I guess she could have told me no. But I said, let’s do it. Let’s go to work. Come on.

Louis Virtel No. Where did that tradition come from? Where did you decide? Like, Oh, my kids, after I read to them, should write poems. And that’ll be productive for all of us involved.

Bob Odenkirk I mean, it’s not from my childhood, but I think for me, one of the big over comes in and being in show business was just believing that you had the right I don’t know how to make something. And I think if you can implant in your kids the sense and the feeling that they are going to make this world one day, they’re going to be the doctors, the lawyers, the artists, the movie makers, the actors, the studio heads, whatever it is, they it’s their world eventually. And they need to believe that it’s possible. So here we are reading all these wonderful classic children’s novels. Books, not novels, books, you know, Seuss and Shel Silverstein and some of the ones we love, the more modern ones, Kayla Brown and numerous others. And I think by making a book, by making a cover, by putting it on the same shelf as all their favorite books, it’s I don’t know. I’m trying to get them to see that you can write one of these books. One day you will make the world and the the friends that I know who grew up in show business. I have a couple of friends. Simon Helberg. Ben Stiller, obviously. Yeah, they. They all had a better sense that it’s not it’s not entitlement. It’s a sense that this is legitimate and that I have to work at it and that it’s a job. So I thought it was a healthier or actually a healthier way of looking at a career in entertainment than the person who comes from outside and is always doubting themselves on every level.

Louis Virtel So in collecting not just the poems he had written as kids, adding to them, putting illustrations to them. Did you also look back at the works of people like Shel Silverstein, and what did you discover reading these poems? Because I feel like if I read Still Silverstein, I might discover like, Oh, he’s actually among the more twisted minds I’ll ever read.

Bob Odenkirk Okay. So I avoided Shel Silverstein when we were writing these, rewriting, rewriting them when the kids were little. We read The Giving Tree. We didn’t. We had both his collections of poetry and the kids read them. We didn’t read a lot of them, but we read some. We read a lot of Dr. Seuss. But when we were rewriting them, you know, 15 years later, I just avoided Shel. And then when we finished and we had our poems that we liked, then I went back to Shel and I checked and I and there was one poem or two, and there were two, right. That were too close to show. Wow. They were just too close to him. But the truth is, there’s some overlap for sure, because if you’re going to write for kids, you got to write about food. You’re going to write about going to bed. You know, they’re you’re going to write about, you know, fears, unnamed fears like monsters or nighttime or nightmares you’re going to hit on subject matter that is shared by children in their, you know, early stages of life. You’re going to these are the things they think about. They think about eating. There’s a lot of poems about food and dessert and siblings, you know, so. So there was always going to be some overlap. But one of the reasons I avoided it was reading his stuff was because I was I just wanted our piece to come from our poems. And then if there was anything that was too egregiously overlapped, I would take it out, which we did.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm. Well, so it’s interesting, obviously, to hear, you know, about the influences that came from, you know, reading poetry as a family and then writing your own. But, Erin, I’m interested in where the inspiration for, I guess, your illustrations first came from and sort of what you drew on and what you continue to draw on as you create art.

Erin Odenkirk Yeah, I have plenty of inspirations, I think. Growing up, I was really personally into like, the Mutts and the Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes. Those were some of the first books that I was able to read on my own that were charming and sweet and funny and replicable to someone that age. You know, I like I could draw the cat from the mutts and have it look like the actual cat. And then as I got a little older, I started to reflect on like Shel and Tony Millionaire and Edward Gorey and sort of illustrators that have a maybe darker perspective and like, use more cross-hatching in a more complicated images and often kind of darker content. And I think when we first moved into working on it, I was very interested in pursuing that sort of style because it’s what I found interesting as an adult starting to read like Charles Burns and more advanced graphic novelists. But in working on the book and developing what we saw as the core of the book, which is really for kids 4 to 8 about language and inventing words and having fun with art and writing and also carrying like a level of silliness with youth throughout the world. Those themes sort of, I think, pushed the art and encouraged art into a friendlier, softer and younger direction. And so I hope someone looking at it can appreciate the parts of me that like a complicated image or a dense scene, but that it’s not so exclusive or overwhelming to like a five year old, you know?

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

Louis Virtel I’m interested in where your sensibilities overlap. Do you guys. I mean, you are an illustrator. You are largely an actor. Very hilarious actor over the years. Very serious actor sometimes. But what in what ways do your sensibilities overlap and which ways do they diverge?

Bob Odenkirk Oh, that’s a good question. I wonder what Erin’s answer to that would be. One of the things I was excited about in her drawings as she pursued laying it out was I think she the the book was the poems were originally written with kids who are between the ages of four and eight. Right. So there are. They really reflect a lot of the things that a kid that age might be thinking about. Because I would write a line, the kid would write a line, or, you know, I had it. I had an audience. At the very least, if I was writing the poem, I had an audience in front of me who was six years old, so I had to play to them. So there is an innocence and a sweetness. And you were mentioning Louis, I think Shel Silverstein being kind of aggressive and edgy and maybe his there’s a darkness in some of his stuff, and I think this book is a little sweeter and more innocent. And I think Erin’s choices of color, hair, choices of the line, it all reflects the tone at the core of the poems.

Erin Odenkirk So, yeah, I think in regard to this book, we aligned on a lot of things. There were moments in the writing process where I like maybe had two simple of an idea or two trait of an idea, and because of his age, he was able to be like, We’ve seen that before. Let’s try something else. And then there were certain moments when he had too much of like a parent idea. Like as a parent, he found it interesting. But as someone who was more recently a kid, I could be like, It’s too pedantic, it’s too lecturing. Let’s move on from that. And so we sort of balanced each other out in that way. And for culture writ large, he showed me most of what I know. Like, she gave me Adrian Tomlin’s book. She played The Replacements and Built to Spill and The Strokes for me, on our drives to school, he showed me some of my favorite movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Blues Brothers and. Gosh, what else? I mean, just everything. I have to. Unfortunately, a credit to him, which I think he accredits to himself as a 20 year old.

Louis Virtel It’s interesting that you also brought up, by the way, Peanuts, which I think about like over the years, Peanuts has changed from like one specific tone to now, like there’s a new Apple TV special where it’s like a pretty sunny cartoon now. And like, once upon a time there was like a real, I would say, droll and contemplative streak to your Grimm streak to Peanuts. And I’m wondering, are you at all nostalgic for those like, oh, they’re like, even like Shel Silverstein? Or it’s like, what is actually going on here? Do you miss that world at all?

Bob Odenkirk I personally look, I feel like the all these different artists and all these different creators are all right. You know, they’re it’s a variety, right? It’s a dynamic range. I do think it’s a shame if they’ve made Peanuts to Sonny because, man, Peanuts is lonely and existentially bereft or unmoored. I mean, we were reading those Peanuts collections to our kids and we stopped because our son started saying the things that Charlie Brown was saying about, you know, nobody likes me. God. I mean, Charlie Brown just says, like. I’m. I’m a loner, and it wasn’t my choice. You know, he says things that are just sad as hell.

Erin Odenkirk I have a feeling and I’m not a historian on the stuff, but I have the feeling that those were sort of written for adults mostly, and it kind of trickled down to kids. And now there’s still cartoonists who do that sort of subversive cartooning. But again, it’s just for the adults, like they have Instagram accounts and sub stacks and people are getting emailed them. They’re not showing up in the paper where some six year old runs across them and can enjoy them also. And so I do miss that like and I think that that’s, you know, that sort of darkness is kind of valuable to encounter when you’re young sometimes.

Ira Madison III Well, it’s a bit too. I mean, I feel like how we used to be presented, even these sorts of cartoons or, you know, Peanuts or even, you know, I first discovered Peanuts when I was reading the newspaper, you know, my parents newspaper. And you have that right alongside Spider-Man, which I would read. And then, you know, Family Circus and then also Mary Worth, whatever that old lady was up to. But like, I would digest all of those, you know, And then I feel like at some point you commercialized those into Peanuts are for kids. So…

Erin Odenkirk Yeah. Totally.

Ira Madison III As a person, you know, who has taken in a lot of your father’s, it was introduce you to a lot of art. And then obviously, you know, you’ve gotten some of your interest from him as well. What is it like digesting one another’s art and seeing it? Like, are you able to sort of like watch your dad on screen or like, how do you feel when you read his writing? And I guess vice versa? Bob When you sort of like are looking at your daughter’s art, when it’s not for the book that you’re working on together, like, you know what, what, where does your eye go to that? Is it getting to go to a critical eye or is it just sort of like letting Erin do her own thing?

Bob Odenkirk I’ll be honest, Ira. I think I’m pretty critical. And Erin knows that my I am and my wife Naomi is, too. And it’s actually been something we’ve had to try to modulate because I think the kids were acutely aware that we were in this business and that we were critical members of, you know, the world of people writing and creating, to the point where Erin told me the other day that when she was at other kids houses, she used to watch the Disney Channel. Do you want to tell them, Erin?

Erin Odenkirk Yeah. I mean, we have a contention about this because he says it wasn’t an official role. But in my mind growing up it was basically an official role. No Disney, no Nick, only like BBC, Sesame Street and then like other adult shows. And so I would go to my friends houses where they were allowed, you know, snacks that didn’t have zero sugar in them and Disney Channel. And I would just lounge absolutely lounge and consume And I knew and I wouldn’t tell my parents about it because it was illegal, but because there’s like a degree of shame about it. Like, it’s kind of shameful.

Bob Odenkirk We never had a rule about it, but I’m sure if that Disney thing popped on, which it did occasionally, you know, we would immediately start tearing into it.

Erin Odenkirk And yeah.

Bob Odenkirk So I think that this goes to even the work. I’ve run writers rooms at Mr. Show, and I know what it’s like to have a good writer’s room and not a good writer’s room. And one of the things you need to do when you’re creating anything is have an open mind and be supportive. That’s how you start anything. Eventually, you have to kick in all your critical faculties, but to start anything, you’ve got to start with some encouragement and hope. And so I like to think I’m good at hearing an idea and being supportive and finding my way to the place where we knuckle down and bring on all our critical faculties. But I think that Erin maybe got to experience that. And that’s and that’s something I learned from writing at Saturday Night Live, where at the time that I was there, that was not the philosophy. And I remember the first time I pitched, yeah, the first thing I pitched at Saturday Night Live just got pounded to death. And it was a perfectly fine idea. Wasn’t a great idea, but it wasn’t. Horrible. It was the idea was I had flown in to work at SNL on a thing at the time called People’s Airlines. Did you ever hear of People’s Airlines?

Louis Virtel No. No.

Bob Odenkirk Too young. Okay. So it was the first low budget airline. It was before JetBlue and things like that. It was in Southwest. It was before that, and it was the first one you could fly from Chicago to New York, I think I want to say for $49. And they had no frills. I mean, you got nothing. You just got on the plane. General seating, no snacks, no nothing. And, you know, and that was great. And I wrote out, I want to I said I my idea is for an airline that’s called like everybody’s airline and they don’t really know where the plane’s headed. They don’t tell you there’s chickens on board and people bring their goats, you know, and. And they just beat the shit out of me for this simple idea which sort of fit because People’s airlines was actually a big deal. I mean, everyone would have known what we were referencing if we did a parody, commercial or whatever for it. And and I thought I remember even at that moment where that happened going, this is not the way to get the best out of people. The first thing you do is hear the writer. Think about it. Try to hopefully laugh. But if you don’t laugh, ask the question of, So what are you going for here? And try to understand the goal or what tickled them or what got them going. So I try to apply that hopefully to Erin in her journey of illustrating the book.

Louis Virtel I also want to point out that recently I’m an obsessive Kathy Griffin fan and she posted a picture with you from the nineties since you guys have known each other for years and years. Yeah. I was wondering for the both of you what long lasting relationships you have with funny people that have been sort of the biggest boon to you creatively in your life. If there are specific funny people around you who really make you do what you do. Or help you do what you do.

Bob Odenkirk David Cross. David Cross and I have been great friends and, you know, work together. My brother Bill, who wrote for The Simpsons for like 17 years and Disenchanted and Futurama now is a very, very funny guy. Oh, I am surrounded by people who inspire me. I mean, Brian Poe saying Scott Aukerman, Peter Gould, Ray Seehorn. I just I’m surrounded by clever, inventive, talented people. So what did Kathy did? She posted on Instagram?

Louis Virtel Yes, She said yes. It looked like you guys were out outside some club or something. It was definitely mid-nineties, I believe.

Bob Odenkirk God, I cannot work Instagram. Okay, I’m going to try to see you.

Erin Odenkirk Watch out.

Louis Virtel Yeah. There was a video, too. Yeah.

Erin Odenkirk All right. I don’t have any big names, but. Of course, I have professors who’ve inspired me and I went to a Nick Donato book signing and I got to meet Adrian Tomine in there as well, and that was pretty epic. But they’re not people I know. I’ll give two, though. There’s this illustrator, Travis Millard, who goes by Fudge. His studio is Fudge Factory Comics. And I got ahold of one of his graphic books when I was like six. And I loved it so much that I read through one of his drawings and brought it to his art show. And he’s been like a family friend ever since. And when I had my bat mitzvah, she came with like Crayola markers and did quote unquote like Sharpie tattoos on my friends. And it was so epic and cool to, like, have this guy that I kind of idolized involved in my life like that. And then in the comedy realm, I’d say, my brother, I don’t think anyone can banter with me like my brother. He really brings it out of me. And he wrote a lot of the poems in this book, and I just have a lot of respect and love for him.

Louis Virtel I just want to say before we close that I think it might be valuable to do an entire illustrated book of Ray Seehorn’s greatest moments on Better Call Saul and just give it to the Emmys so that we can once and for all show them what she what she deserves.

Bob Odenkirk I’m with you, man. I mean, wow. Right. I mean, just just a powerful performance and so intelligent. And she made her character so intelligent. And that’s just an amazing thing to do. I mean, you do it with your eyes. You do it with your presence. You know, the script helps for sure. You do that. You do that. She did that.

Ira Madison III Do you find that you maybe I mean, you spent so much time doing, you know, Breaking Bad and then to better call Saul and sort of like disappearing into this role. Do you miss sort of, you know, the early parts of your career of like Mr. Show and doing sketch comedy and running a room? Is that an itch that you still have or are you just sort of like, I don’t really have an interest in that sort of particular chaos anymore?

Bob Odenkirk Yeah, it’s a good question, Ira. You know, I love sketch comedy still very much. I love comedy. I love being silly. I’m 60, almost 61. And in some ways, I’m I’ll just never not be that guy who made that show and loves thinking about things like that. And I hope to have more of that in my life, you know, get to do a show, which is to say, I’m saying I would love to get to do more pure comedy. I think I’ve found whether you like it or not, there’s things you want to do, but then you have to also work with where you’re at in life and how you look and how you sound and what you can, what you can do. And I think that there’s great rewards in drama, and I think I belong there right now. I just think I belong there. I it has something to do with age. You know, John Cleese said, and I’m going to it’s a paraphrase. But he said, you know, when you’re young and you do sketch comedy, you know, you pretend to be a doctor or a lawyer, a judge, you know, if you watch Python, there’s all these lawyer and judge scenes, but everyone’s laughing right away because you’re 26 years old and you’re not a judge and you’re not a lawyer. But when you’re 50 or 60, well, that’s not automatically funny. You might be a judge, you know. So right away, all those things you you’re pretending to be when you’re young and doing sketch comedy, which is everything in the world. It’s all you’re just smiling right away because these are a bunch of young people. They’re mocking everything. And you don’t have that automatic smile once you get older. And once the actors and the presenters are older, it’s a weird thought. Maybe it’s not true, but I think there’s some truth to it. So I’ll find a way to do it. I mean, this book is one way to do it. If you like Mr. Show and the sensibility of Mr. Show, then I think Zilot has a lot of that sensibility in it. With none of the swear words.

Ira Madison III Well.

Louis Virtel Well, thank you both for being here. Like, the book is so delightful and also something you just want to look at on your shelf, too. So congrats on the book.

Erin Odenkirk Thanks for saying that.

Bob Odenkirk Well, thank you. Thanks for having us, guys.

Ira Madison III And we’re back with our favorite segment of the episode. It’s Keep It. Louis?

Louis Virtel Yes.

Ira Madison III What are you keeping?

Louis Virtel I’m batting my eyelashes, waiting for you to call my name.

Ira Madison III Jessica Rabbit. Yeah.

Louis Virtel Man. Do I miss Kathleen Turner? Voice performances. Can we bring that back? Anyway, my keep it is true. I had a work obligation last night, so I couldn’t go see Pink perform at Sofi Stadium. Not that I’m like an obsessive Pink fan or anything, but, you know, probably if a ticket ended up in my lap, I’d probably be happy to see her. You know, I mean, like, the vocals are.

Ira Madison III I want to see that bitch fly.

Louis Virtel No, please. She might hit you. I mean, like. Like she is zooming around the room like fucking Mr. Bill.

Ira Madison III When I saw her perform, it was. I think it was before all that flying shit. The only time I’ve seen Pink in concert was she opened for Justin Timberlake on the future sex love show.

Louis Virtel Oh, okay. Got it. Well, she is, of course, still an acrobat and doing her tumbling antics and all that stuff. But anyway, during the show, she fucking brought out Alanis Morissette and Alanis Morissette just saying, like, you ought to know with her. Whatever. I keep it to myself because I would have fucking wept at a Pink concert, just like my friends would be concerned about me as I stood there and watched this Canadian woman absolutely slay these vocals. Alanis Also somebody people don’t really talk about this. She had a particular vocal style when she emerged, and it would be it would be kind of derided sometimes, even though people loved her vocals, that it was like screaming or whatever. She sounds better than ever to me. It’s like she’s a very like she’s zoomed in on the qualities of her voice that are distinct. And now she’s a better singer with those qualities. So she’s not eliminated any of her individuality. But just. If I, I Amanda, I wasn’t at the concert, but know that if I were there, I would have been weeping at a pink concert. I just want to say that that is embarrassing to admit, and that’s my Keep It for myself this week.

Ira Madison III Mm hmm.

Louis Virtel How often are you likely to cry at a concert? I don’t think of you as a crier.

Ira Madison III I cried at the Rennassaince tour.

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah? Which part?

Ira Madison III The Dangerously In Love like opening.

Louis Virtel Of the opening. That’s a very intimate moment for the stadium.

Ira Madison III Yeah, that was like I was it was very honest. It caught me off guard, too. I did not see I didn’t I hadn’t looked up spoilers or anything before it happened, so I didn’t know the set list. And when that opened up with that, I was just like it moved me.

Louis Virtel Also, there’s something about opening with that. It’s like the unceremonious ness with which she just like comes out on stage is like, I’m going to give you some vocals for a second, basically before the show begins. Like, I’m not I can’t think of somebody else who’s ever done that. It’s a really interesting approach.

Ira Madison III Opening for yourself is more people should do it.

Louis Virtel Yeah, it sounds like the title of an Oprah book, like You Should Be Opening for Yourself Foreword by Deepak Chopra.

Ira Madison III Honestly, more people should do that because I feel like that is a way to get two different versions of a show. You know, like, I mean, I wish Madonna would do that because I’m like, okay, come on, open for yourself with a fun moment. And then if the rest of the rest of the concert is the Rebel Heart world tour, well, I’m going to leave that.

Louis Virtel And it’s a good way to it’s a good way to, like, roll through material you’re not psyched about or that you think people want to hear. So it’s like, Oh, yeah, give us what does she not like about like now she says she doesn’t like Holiday or like Material Girl or whatever. Yeah.

Ira Madison III So yeah, that a concert is allegedly happening.

Louis Virtel So I know I have a ticket for it because for Comic Relief, we’ll see if I end up at this concert, but. Ira, what is your Keep It this week?

Ira Madison III I think I’ve brought this up before, but I have a renewed anger. I was in my bodega. You know, New York City. New York City. Ah, I remember about $8 here. So I go to my bodega. You know what I. What I want for my juice. You know, I just left the gym.

Louis Virtel And Rosie Perez. No. Yeah.

Ira Madison III I really want something, you know, like, sweet. You know? Like wet my appetite. You know, in liven the senses. I don’t want to get a Snapple. And I taste Snapple.

Louis Virtel Mm hmm.

Ira Madison III And it’s disgusting. And you know why? The Snapple is disgusting? Because I’m drinking in a fuckin plastic bottle.

Louis Virtel Oh, right. Yes. I.

Ira Madison III Bring back glass. Bring back glass Snapple bottles. It’s. We’re never going to taste Snapple out of a glass bottle again, are we? The plastic bottle it. I feel like it makes it taste vile.

Louis Virtel It’s just a different experience altogether. I mean, like, I forget what Drag Queen including. But I’m not seeing any glamor. Not only is it plastic, but they kind of want to make it look like glass. So you’re actually a little disappointed every time you go to grab it.

Ira Madison III It’s just ugly. And I think that the sort of sensory thing you used to feel with grabbing a glass bar, a chilled glass bottle of Snapple, opening it, that pop happening, reading the trivia that was on the top of it, it it sort of gives you nineties. It makes you feel like you’re about to go watch Nickelodeon. Not at Bob Odenkirk’s house because.

Louis Virtel Oh, yeah, right. I’m not allowed there. Interesting point.

Ira Madison III Yeah he he would have had something to say to about coming to visit me in college. He would have been  like, Ira, why are you stoned watching Wizards of Waverly Place again? I’m like, Is it all Saturday thing for me? Bob? I know complaining about this makes me sound like Delta work or something.

Louis Virtel But another day.

Ira Madison III I’m just I am so incensed when I see these Snapple bottles. I almost reached for one today, and instead I got one of those fucking Body Armor drinks which are so weird. They’re just like flavored water. I always get the zero calorie one and then it tastes like sand. But.

Louis Virtel Yeah.

Ira Madison III That’s because I can’t have a Snapple.

Louis Virtel There’s a lot of murky waters on the market right now. Like you can get you can get just off water and all these different ways. I will say I always knew Snapple was going downhill after they got rid of Wendy, the Snapple lady, and then she had to go on Celebrity Fit Club to remain. You know, I don’t want to say relevant, but like, you know, in our faces. And I thought she was very winning on that show.

Ira Madison III You know what, Wendy Kaufman?

Louis Virtel Yes.

Ira Madison III She was that girl.

Louis Virtel Oh, please. Oh, excuse me. I was thrilled about Snapple and the nineties because she was selling, like, the way people have, like, I guess an affinity for Flo from Progressive. Not me. I give that all to Wendy. I’m Wendy pilled as they say.

Ira Madison III I don’t give a fuck about Flo.

Louis Virtel No. What is she done for us? She has red hair. So what?

Ira Madison III I want Wendy. And you know who else I want? I want a buddy comedy with Wendy and Diane Amos, the Pine-sol lady.

Louis Virtel So you can not just bring out the Pine-sol lady like that. She came back. She she she said, we’ll be back to Jeopardy in just a minute. First of all, your place is disgusting. That’s what she said. And she she’s like, you want it to smell like lemons in your place, By the way. You don’t really. But like when she said it, I was like, I do. I do. I do.

Ira Madison III Yeah. That was definitely a product that I was more into the concept of than actually cleaning our home with Pine-sol. Because after you clean your home with pine-sol it, you truly can’t be in the house. It’s like you sprayed cockroaches.

Louis Virtel And it’s also just like, it’s like very elevated car air freshener flavor, you know what I mean? It’s just not you don’t need that permeating a space. But like her character work right there, I was right there with her.

Ira Madison III The nineties was really just about having women of a certain size shaking a bottle in front of you and making you feel happy, you know?

Louis Virtel Right, Right. And yet when it came to fatty things like Wheat Thins, a very stick thin woman like Sandy Duncan would sell it to you. So there’s like a lot of math going on there.

Ira Madison III Yeah. You know, well, fat people can clean your home and make you feel jolly, but.

Louis Virtel Yeah.

Ira Madison III You don’t want to buy Wheat Thins from them.

Louis Virtel By the way, as you know, Wheat Thins still a lovely snack If I haven’t touted them in a while. I’m still on the weed. I’m still Wheat Thins pilled. The Wendy and Wheat Thins pill. That’s me, Louis.

Ira Madison III Do you eat Wheat Thins?

Louis Virtel Oh, sure. I mean, excuse me. All I want to do in this life, there’s like, the little bowl of something salty in front of me, and you can’t see this if you’re listening to the podcast, But if you’re watching the show, you can’t see me dipping my little wrist in like this. It’s like. It’s like I’m in My Fair Lady. And I, I pick it up and I’m like, like I’m biting it like this. I have, you know, my my incisors are coming down like a woodpecker. That’s how I want to eat things.

Ira Madison III You know what I mean? If you treat myself today to some Wheat Thins and, you know, some some nice cheese from the store, I love a nice cheese on a cracker.

Louis Virtel Oh, please, Please.

Ira Madison III I feel like that’s sort of the epitome of, um. You’re an adult and you’re at home and you’re making a snack for yourself. You know, it’s like you got nice cheese.

Louis Virtel Oh, no. Of course you can eat Wheat Thins plain, too, but there’s something about. Yeah, cheese is, like, among the most addictive. I did not. Stan. As a kid, I thought all cheese was kind of gross because, you know, I grew up in like a midwestern family with, like, boys and stuff. I didn’t understand that. Like, cheese is not just like something melted on. The other thing you’re eating now, there’s like a there’s something very riche about a wonderful cheese.

Ira Madison III Yeah. All right. Well, these are lovely takes that are definitely wanted.

Louis Virtel We’re like a million years old and fit.

Ira Madison III Wheat Thins and cheese.

Louis Virtel Pedestrian.

Ira Madison III Yes, and Snapple. That’s our show this week. So thank you to Bob and Erin Odenkirk for being here. And we will be back next week with more Keep It. Keep It is a Crooked Media production. Our senior producer is Kendra James. Our producer is Chris Lord and our associate producer is Malcolm Whitfield. Our executive producers are Ira Madison the third  and Louis VIrtel.

Louis Virtel This episode was recorded and mixed by Evan Sutton. Thank you to our digital team, Megan Patzel and Rachel Gaewski and to Matt DeGroot and David Toles for production support every week.

Ira Madison III And as always, Keep It is recorded in front of a live studio audience.